Speculation The Official Episode VII and the EU thread

I don't think it will be any worse than the TCW... and nearly all of that has been retconned so it does work, we're just waiting for a new timeline and how to retcon Even Piell's early demise.

 

I don't see how the costs of publishing a new continuity would go up if Disney decide to go down the route of scrapping existing canon for a more comic book style continuity system. Which would be a great idea, no more book series being rendered invalid and cut off mid-series simply because of a continuity error with the latest kids cartoon on Disney XD.

 

Of course, if they go with the latter, the response will be "Oh. Never mind."

 

Chewgumma, I love your avatar!

 

Let me get this straight. To understand the backstory of the main characters of a new Star Wars movie, I would have to read a dozen or more poorly written novels?

 

Thanks. I can't help but read my posts in Vincent Price's voice now. It's so delightful.

 

They've already made money on those books by the people who bought them. They'll come up with new stories so everyone can spend money on them and not say "Oh, I read the book years ago, this one sucks.", they're smart enough to get your money from you before you realize it sucks, that's how the film industry works.

 

I don't know what you're talking about.

1. LFL will remain autonomous, just like Marvel is. They went to Disney so they can protect the existing characters, they've said that outright. But it will be Kathleen Kennedy who's running LFL and putting together the Sequel Trilogy now, with Lucas's creative input.

2. Of course publishing a new continuity, starting over from scratch, is more expensive than simply using what's already been published! Common sense!

3. There have been no book series rendered invalid and cut-off midseries because of a TV continuity error. If you're talking about Karen Traviss, the "error" was fixed before those TV episodes ever debuted, she simply didn't want to share developing Mandalorian culture with anyone. She could have continued her Commando sries and not quit.

 

Prepare yourself now. This film will not be made so that it can be happily placed somewhere between some EU books.

This film is not made for the "Star Wars hardcore" but for everyone.

 

That's the OPPOSITE of what I wrote.

Not everyone has gone into the EU before. There's a lot of really good stuff in there.

And why go through the cost, both financial and creative, of getting new stuff?



Plus many authors might not want to write if they have good reason to believe that other authors can simply overwrite their stuff.

 

Lt. Kettch.

 

Okay then let me amend my previous point: I don't see how publishing costs would go up if the newly owned Lucasfilm decide to go with a comic book style continuity.

Or they could just simply not have a canon system but instead run it like Star Trek, where each story is a continuity of its own. I don't see how it would be so costly when under such a system over-arching continuity wouldn't even exist.

Wasn't someone lined up to write Imperial Commando 2 after Traviss left? I wonder what happened to that endeavor.

 

Yes, there are some good EU books, but there are plenty of ones which aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Also, the legal rights to the previously written works could easily throw the costs off. Yes, Disney is made of money, but it will save them money to create this stuff from the get go as opposed to all of the legal wrangling it would take to get the permissions and such to use characters created by other authors and make films out of those. It would also be advantageous for new characters to be created while LFL is under Disney as then Disney will have exclusive control over those characters and not have to worry about the legal dealings. Trust me, it costs less to have someone come up with new characters and stories than it does to buy the rights to film and distribute previously written material.

And if authors wouldn't want to write because their work might get overwritten then they really shouldn't be writing for a franchise which is notorious for doing just that.

 

I think "Death Star" would be a perfect book to get into the ST because you could introduce a more modern tone and faster pacing while providing a tie in using footage from the OT.

A second choice would be "Shadows of the Empire" because it would allow the filmmakers to introduce us to the new, younger actors they need to hire to portray Luke, Leia, and Han.

Obviously, though, it makes more sense for it to be the Thrawn Trilogy since that is already considered by (more than just me?) to be sort of the unofficial ST anyway.

 

I don't think you understand. If they go with existing EU, they don't have to publish 40 years worth of stories. Those already exist.

No, they though of finding another author for Imperial Commando, but decided not to since it was Karen Traviss's baby. She already revealed how it would have ended, anyways, in an interview or blog on her site.

Plus, new authors wouldn't want to write when they know their stuff can be overwritten.


Personally, I also think comic-book continuity is awful, and one of the reasons why I don't invest in Spider-Man or other non-SW comics anymore. Continuity is Star Wars' greatest strength. Take that away, and the EU is worthless.

 

Too bad nobody can agree on which ones those might be. Shadows of the Empire? That was trash to me. But the Glove of Darth Vader? KICKASS.

 

LFL is still autonomous of Disney. LFL will still be running the show, just under Kathleen Kennedy instead of George Lucas.

As Timothy Zahn wrote today, LFL already has the rights to all his creations. No legal wrangling is necessary. They already have it all.

 

The last thing i want is for this to build off the characters created in the EU. Luke should have never gotten married and had kids. They screwed up what happened after rotj in the EU. I dont want other peoples ideas i want lucas idea of what happens next, and i dont want constraints of the EU to be there. Solo children should be involved, but not as created in the EU. Screw the EU, thats not the star wars i know.

 

While there are several characters I think could be used in E7, even with an original story, my pick is Mara Jade. Even if she's only mentioned, I want her to have some presence.

 

Good for him. Doesn't mean they'll do jack squat about making it into a movie though. People want new stuff.

 

Pretty sure the entire Jedi Prince saga is objectively good, man. It's got everything! Robot assassins, Trioculus, whales, Trioculus, Triclops, and best of all, Trioculus!

 

And if they scrap a rigid canon structure those same 30 years worth of stories would still exist, just any new material wouldn't have to run around in circles trying to squeeze into the pre-existing material's timeline.

Plenty of authors still write for Star Trek. In a franchise with no canon there is no such thing as overwritten, which as Kyle Katarn pointed out has happened a lot in the Star Wars canon.

Well that's just a matter of your personal taste. But it would still be profitable for Lucasfilm to take this route as the books would still sell.

 

The thing that worries me in Lucas's comments where he says "Luke getting married? No. That never happens." Which means, to him, most of the EU doesn't exist. BUT! Lucasfilm seems to like the idea of the EU existing, so I'm not too worried.

 

I didn't say that. I know it will be a new story.

You said it would be a legal mess for them to get all the rights to the EU, so it couldn't be used anyways. I proved that isn't the case.


To return to topic, it makes perfect sense for them to embrace the EU.